AFL: Round 18 Collingwood Magpies vs. Melbourne Demons

After five losses in a row, Magpie coach Nathan Buckley and his men will have one thing on their mind this weekend.

Four points.

The young Pies have been brave over a tough month of football, but have failed in the crucial moments of each of their past five games.

There’s nothing like the Melbourne Football Club to help end a losing streak.

The Demons, in development mode themselves, have regressed in recent weeks and carry a poor form line into the match. Young Demons forward Jesse Hogan has been bereft of help, while the Melbourne midfield has failed to give a four-quarter effort since before Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister of Australia.

Collingwood are not playing well enough to thump the Demons, but should get the chocolates. The Dees usually bring their best for their ‘Grand Finals’ against Collingwood, so we expect a close game early before Collingwood pull away late to win in between 1-39 points.

MMA: UFC 190 Rhonda Rousey vs. Bethe Correia

Sunday, August 2, 2015, 3pm AEST

Prediction: Fight to last more than 1.5 rounds ($3.20 with sportsbet.com.au)

Make no mistake, the UFC’s most well known personality Ronda Rousey might just be the best female fighter on the planet.

And, if she wanted to, she could probably end challenger Bethe Correia inside 30 seconds.

Bit we’re going to have a little faith in her mean streak, with her comments this week that she plans to prolong the pounding she intends to hand out to the Brazilian.

Correia has never lost and neither has Rousey, so the heavy favourite might not have it all her own way.

But, in saying that, she has literally hammered all comers and holds the women’s bantam weight title, which she will defend on the weekend.

And she’s not happy after Correia told her not to “kill herself” when she loses the title, unaware that Rousey’s father had taken his own life when she was just eight years old.

“Pitbull” has apologised, but “Rowdy” is having none of it, and that spells trouble for the Brazilian.

Rousey’s past three trips to the octagon have lasted a combined 96 seconds, with each of her opponents ending up with their heads smashed in.

“Suicide is no joke or selling point,” Rousey wrote on Twitter, to Correia after her comment.

“My father will be with me the day I hand you the comeuppance you deserve.”

Whether the comments were on purpose or not, Correia has opened up a can of worms and few think she can handle it, considering she hasn’t fought in over 12 months.

“I’m not going to call it and say this fight is going to end in a minute when I’m out there,” Rousey said.

“I am ready for a five-round war, that’s how I walk out there and that’s what I’ve prepared for.

“Who knows what’s going to happen.

“But, what people are seeing is the absolute peak of the athletic women’s potential.

“And that is always worth the money.“

“If it goes any longer, it’s just because I’m punishing her more.

“I’m not going to purposely not finish her if I see something.

“But I will drag it out and make the finish more exciting.

“The last piece of this challenge is that I’m going to beat Bethe in the most fantastic and entertaining way possible, and then I can think about how great things are.

She is no slouch, but Rousey is on another level interms of athleticism, skill and fighting spirit.

This is one war Correia probably can’t win, but we reckon she might just be able to string it out long enough to win us some money.

Soccer: English Premier League Community Shield – Chelsea vs. Arsenal

Monday, August 3, 2015, Midnight AEST.

Prediction: Arsenal to lift the cup ($2.05)

There are two big Cs that could miss the Community Shield for Chelsea and that gives Arsenal a serious advantage.

At opposite ends of the pitch, defensive dynamo Gary Cahill and superb striker Diego Costa are both under injury clouds and could very well miss the Community Shield match, which pits the English Premier League champions up against the FA Cup title holders.
The Gunners are the reigning Community Shield holders, after slamming three past Manchester City to claim last year’s trophy and they will be keen to kick off their season in similar winning fashion against their London rivals.

Santi Cazorla, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey scored in that game and all are a chance to line up again.

It will be a baptism of fire for former Chelsea man Peter Cech, who will man the goals in his first real competitive match against the team he won two Premier League titles with and left only weeks ago.

Make no mistake, this has all the makings of a superb match, with two of the best teams in the English Premier League going head to head.

We feel like the early season game is very even, but, if those two boys miss, the ascendency is handed to Arsenal and it’s plethora of talented attackers, led by Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil.

Manager Arsene Wenger and The Special One have been blueing again this week, adding a little more spice to it, but we’re going with the Arsenal icon to come out on top in this one. Avoid the worry of a draw with the Gunners to be standing on the dais at the end of the match.